Dad refuses to refrigerate chicken fettuccini leftovers until 24 hours after it has been cooked: 'This is how you get really sick.'

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Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Nov 6, 2026 8:00 AM EST

Many people fear leftovers, but they shouldn't if they are properly refrigerated and not left out for 3 weeks, when bacteria can grow. Unfortunately, not everyone follows food safety rules. They eat petri dishes of leftovers and wonder why their stomachs hurt so badly. 

You can only leave meat and cheese at room temperature for a limited time before they become unsafe to eat. A pepperoni pizza can sit on a counter for two hours before it starts to look a bit suspect, but that won't stop a lot of people from eating it anyway. Who among us can say that we've never eaten some food that has been left out longer than it's supposed to be? 

One of the greatest Reddit posts of all time is about someone eating pizza left out on the counter overnight. A young man saw a pie like that on the kitchen counter when he woke up and assumed his roommate had forgotten to put it in the refrigerator. He ate a slice, and then his roommate was infuriated to discover that he had eaten a slice of the pizza. Apparently, it was the roommate's birthday, and every year on his birthday, he ate a whole pizza that had been sitting at room temperature for hours because that is how he liked to eat it. He accused his roommate of ruining his special "birthday pizza." You would think the reasonable people of Reddit would either find this absurd or understand why this guy wouldn't assume his roommate was planning to eat this unsafe-to-consume pizza. If you thought that, you would be wrong! Literally every comment criticized this guy for eating his roommate's special "birthday pizza" and condemned him for eating somebody else's food. You would think he was doing his roommate a favor by eating the food-poisoning pizza! 

In reality, neither of those guys should've eaten that pizza, but pizza is one of those foods people feel more comfortable taking risks with when it comes to food safety. I don't think that guy would've eagerly drank a warm glass of milk that had been sitting on the counter all night. Meat, especially chicken, is also much more suspect after too much time. That's why the son in this story is horrified by his dad leaving a milky, cheesy pasta dish with chicken at room temperature for 24 hours before eating more of it. 

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  • 01

    My dad refuses to refrigerate leftovers until at least 24 hours after dinner has been cooked

    ic allet.
    via u/joshizua
  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 10675325184
    via u/joshizua
  • 03
    For example my dad made chicken fettuccini last night and just left it sit out over night. I am afraid to eat it.... Should I be? UPDATE: He just microwaved and ate some. The container still isn't in the fridge.
    via u/joshizua
  • 04
    Used-Salad-3772 I don't know how old your dad is but I see behavior like this in older people because many of them don't believe in food safety precautions.
    via u/Used-Salad-3772
  • 05
    lonetraveler73 This is just from my imperfect memory. I could swear that my mom or dad believed that food had to completely cool before putting it in the fridge. If you put hot food in a cold fridge it would actually make bacteria growth worse. I also had a girlfriend that believed the same thing. So I don't think my family were the only ones that believed it.
    via u/lonetraveler73
  • 06
    Canotic It's because if you put a big bowl of hot food in the fridge or freezer, the centre will be hot for hours. It doesn't mean you shouldn't put it in hot, it means you should put it in in smaller batches so it can cool down faster. And of course not have too much at the same time so it heats up the freezer.
    via u/Canotic
  • 07
    Humble-Struggle5226 Putting hot food in the fridge makes the fridge warmer and increases the temperature of everything in it. The leftovers don't need to be cold or room temp but atleast let it cool down so it's just warm and not hot.
    via u/Humble-Struggle5226
  • 08
    Drivo566 I mean, if its warming stuff up that much in the fridge its probably going to trigger the fridges thermostat and the compressor will run to cool things back off quickly.
    via u/Drivo566
  • 09
    MethodologyQueen I think this is actually one of the reasons that it's often older people who are like this. Because fridges used to be simpler machines that weren't as responsive to changes in temperature like this and were essentially just cold boxes. So in the past this wasn't the case and it could warm things up for a bit. Now the fridges are better but some people are used to making sure everything is completely cool before it goes in. That said, you should still batch out large containers
    via u/MethodologyQueen
  • 10
    forestcridder were essentially just cold boxes. How far back are you talking. Even the 1950s fridge I had in my trailer house had a thermostat.
    via u/forestcridder
  • 11
    Lady_of_Link Sure but it wouldn't actually start working harder when the temp went up. Nowadays fridges start working harder when you put something hot in there.
    via u/Lady_of_Link
  • 12
    Special-Summer170 My grandparents didn't believe in food safety. One Christmas my grandma bought a ham and forgot it in her trunk for a week. She said the temperatures were cold and it would be fine (it was not cold enough). She planned to feed this to everyone for Christmas. My mom and I did a covert operation. My mom bought a new identical ham and we went to Grandma's house. I distracted grandma while my mom stole the probably bacteria laden ham and put the new one in its place. Then she smugg
    via u/Special-Summer170
  • 13
    E_Ten_ But now grandma thinks she was right and if something like that comes up again she'll do it again. May not give anyone a heads up this time either
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  • 14
    BlueberryWasps i think the point is that nothing they could've done would have convinced that woman she was wrong and any ensuing fight from pushing back would've risked ruining christmas. sometimes you have to do st like this to keep things running smoothly with stubborn family members. they probably remained vigilant, or offered to cook themselves afterwards
    via u/BlueberryWasps
  • 15
    lezbehonest787 Some people are built different. Maybe one's body accustoms itself to this kind of thing? I think there is a cultural element, too. An old friend of mine was Honduran, and her family would leave cooked food in a room temp pot on the stove all day long and eat off of it. I briefly had a roommate from Tanzania, and she made chicken and plaintain soup and left it on the stove overnight and then asked me if I wanted some in the morning. I felt awful saying no and I could tell it hurt
    via u/lezbehonest787
  • 16
    SamikaTRH It's not that food magically becomes unsafe, it's that some subset of food left out will become unsafe. You don't do it because you have no idea whether yours is safe or not and it isn't worth the risk where refrigeration is accessible and convenient. Just like seatbelts, you don't get in an accident everyday but it's still smart to wear since you can't predict when an accident will happen
    via u/SamikaTRH
  • 17
    Omniphilo23 My wife tries to do this. If I don't put it away, she will try to do it the next day and put it in the fridge like it's okay. Says she hates wasting food. Doesn't process that the food is already wasted. I threaten her with food safety courses and she acts like I'm overreacting. She's a doctor.
    via u/Omniphilo23
  • 18
    sveccha The most dangerous growth happens at the in between temps, which your father is maximizing. This is how you get really sick
    via u/sveccha
  • 19
    ya_bebto Some people act like they have a mysterious source of stomachs aches, digestion issues, etc, then you find out that they do stuff like this. Turns out they've just been living with chronic mild food poisoning.
    via u/ya_bebto

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leftovers bacteria food safety dad chickens food
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